Friday, March 24, 2000 |
Unexpected
joy results when our children are allowed to participate
in church life By DAVID EPPS Children are wonderful reminders that God has a sense of humor. When I was a youth pastor many centuries ago, I was processing into the Sunday morning service with the senior pastor who suddenly said, Oh, gee, David, I forgot! It's Girl Scout Sunday. Sure enough, some two or three dozen little girls dressed in green or brown were sitting in the middle of the congregation. So? I replied uncomprehendingly. So, you need to put together a children's sermon. Fast! It had been our custom to present a children's sermon every other week during the offertory. This was not one of those weeks. No problem, I lied. I'll be right back. I rushed to my office to try to compose a children's sermon in about four minutes and gathered several props into a cardboard box. On the way out, I picked up a trash can as well. The children gathered around me during the appointed moment in the service and I began to teach them of the need to give all totally to God. I set the trash can in the midst of the children and reached into the cardboard box as I said, We need to give to God everything in our past. Solemnly, I placed a history book in the trash can. We also need to give God our achievements, I stated, as I withdrew a trophy from the box and dropped it into the can. As I eased a diploma into the can, I said, rather seriously, We need to give God our minds. After a few more items made their way into the trash can, I concluded, But what we really need to do - what God really wants - is that we give him ourselves. I was very pleased with myself until little Andy Rowlett said, Gee, Mr. Dave, I hope you don't give yourself to God. You'd need a dipsty dumpster! In this same church a few months later, I was doing a children's sermon on Surrender to God. The plan was this - I would have one of the kids stand up and turn around to face away from me. I would put a toy gun in his back and shout, This is a stickup. Put `em up! The child would, of course, raise his hands to the sky, indicating total surrender and compliance. Right. Not learning from my first experience, I picked Andy to be the holdup victim. I stuck the gun in his back and shouted my script. To my surprise and horror, Andy let out a bloodcurdling scream, spun around, and kicked me soundly on the shin. I dropped the gun, grimaced in pain, and, amidst gales of laughter coming from the congregation, hobbled away. I changed the sermon to Resist the Devil and He Shall Flee from You. Children also remind us that our message isn't always as clear as we'd like to think it is. In one church, a favorite chorus that we would sing was, Exalt the Lord Our God. One little girl sang with all her might her favorite song, Exhaust the Lord Our God. It made me wonder if much of our worship, meant to glorify God, resulted in only tiring Him out! One little boy loved to sing about the animals in heaven. I was confounded until he began to sing it for me. The song he was referring to went, The cloud of glory is moving. Move with the cloud, move with the cloud. With great gusto and delight, the little lad sang, The cows of glory are mooing. Moo with the cows, moo with the cows. Children can humble us like no one else can. One day at the church I served, Timmy Creamer shook my hand and said, Good morning, God! I looked questioningly at his parents who explained that they had told Timmy they were going to God's house on Sundays. This was God's house. I was up front talking. Therefore, in Timmy's mind, I must be God. No amount of persuasion could change Timmy's mind. For over a year, he called me God. Nothing will destroy one's pride more than to have a child look at you as though you are God. Children are so wonderful and precious. Each Sunday, I call all the children together during the service and, before they go to their lesson, thank God that He has given these kids to their families, to the Church, and to the earth. We pray for all children (even, and especially, the unborn, Whose name You know and whose purposes You hold in Your hand.) and ask that, when they are old, their testimony will be, There's never been a day in all my life I didn't know and love Jesus with all my heart. After all, it was He who said, Let the children come to me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. We devalue children in this country. Much of the time, even in Church, the children are an inconvenience to be shuttled away to a place that is far away from the rest of the church family. We punish parents who try to be close to their children by denying college admission (at many, if not most, state schools in Georgia) to students who have been home-schooled. We save whales, trees, and snail darters while aborting 39 million of our young. As a society, we beat, neglect, abuse, abandon, and murder our children in ever-increasing numbers. And then we wonder why they vent their violence on other children. It's past time to listen to our children. It's past time to hold them, spend time with them, and just plain love them. After all, they have so much to teach us. And, anyway, you might be the closest thing to God they've seen lately. [Father David Epps is rector of Christ the King Church which meets Sundays at 10 a.m. in the Carmichael-Hemperley chapel on Ga. Highway 74 in Peachtree City. He may be contacted at www.ChristTheKingCEC.comor at FatherDavidEpps@aol.com].
|